The Humanity Bureau

It seems many of the movie greats have become straight to DVD fodder now. They have all gone down the Lance Henriksen, Ron Perlman, John Cusack route and I am very sad to say we have to add Nick Cage to the list of has beens. Is it because they are too old? Well, No I certainly don't think so; Nick and John Cusack both seem to be dying their hair with boot polish these days but at least Nick hasn't had too many face lifts like John Cusack (seriously have you seen him in CELL & SINGULARITY - He looks like a woman). Nick looks half decent for a guy in his 50's so why why why are they not being offered decent roles?

This was really cheap from the very opening scene with the drone next to his car it looked so bad it wasn't even good enough to appear in a home made video. The cars were supposed to be smartphone computer controlled and it is supposed to be the future but they were all ordinary cars with nothing scifi about them except the Humanity logo - very, very poor show old chep!

The movie lurched from one cheap location to another as a different reviewer pointed out quite correctly to save money obviously. The guy with the eye patch - what can i say but cringe, cringe, triple cringe!!!

The acting was wooden and plodding as though they were all just picking up a cheque and the artistic integrity mattered not. The story really was like a retread of an old tired cliché and the poor effects just made the whole thing seem like another pointless exercise. I though singularity was poor but this is actually worse.

Scifi channel movies are better than this - if that doesn't give you the SP then nothing will!

Let's just be blunt; this is a Nicolas Cage movie...

...and with that statement, then you already know what you are in for.

The story in "The Humanity Bureau" is very slow paced, and it is also a very simplistic storyline that offers very little in terms of twists and surprises.

The storyline just trotted on in a very mundane and monotonous tone, which gave next to no variation to events or thrills.

The acting in the movie was adequate, taking into consideration the little material they had to work with.

I looked at the clock after what had felt like 2 hours something, but was shocked to find that only a single hour had passed.

This is not among the best of Nicholas Cage movies. But then again, doesn't really offer much of a challenge to become that, now, does it?

I guess when the movie came out the reviewers thought it was ridiculous. Today is a different story given the tings our government has been doing recently. Today, it is totally believable.

In the near future, America is devastated by evironmental and economic disasters. Noah Kross (Nicolas Cage) is an agent of the Humanity Bureau, a government agency which determines whether a citizen is productive or not. He is sent to evaluate the farm of Rachel Weller and her son Lucas. The farm is barren and Kross decides to send them to the relocation center. When he gives them a break, his superior Adam Westinghouse (Hugh Dillon) seeks to stop them all.

It seems like the filmmakers conceived of a dystopian world but failed to create a compelling story within it. This is another Cage special. It should be a warning sign for any of his recent movies. If he thinks the script is great, there is no doubt that something is wrong with it. The big reveal reminds me of Soylent Green. In fact, I'd rather have Soylent Green. This is generally cheap, inferior in every way, and lacking intensity. Cage is going through the motion. This is a small Canadian sci-fi indie trying to hit above its weight and failing.

I gave this a 5-rating for one simple reason: It kept me sufficiently interested to watch it to the end. No, it wasn't enthralling and, no, it wasn't exciting. The characters were poorly developed and no thought or creativity went into the single snowy mountain scenery. Plot holes abound, but I ended up not caring because I never had that suspension of disbelief that great movies inspire.

As a storyline, it had potential. But occasional glimpses of "what might have been" left a deep feeling of wanting so much more than was delivered.

Ultimately, the ending had a genuine feeling of "Oops, we spent too much time and money, so let's finish it quick". Very disappointing, but it did keep me watching (silly me).